Chapter 30

-Dante-

The House of Spirits was basically a hotel. The wide room was painted with white and beige and had those small trees in flowerpots in every corner, surrounded by cozy-looking armchairs and tiny tables. There was a big, golden chandelier hanging right in the middle of the ceiling, lighting up every spot in the room, and a wide counter at the opposite wall, but nothing else. The place looked exactly like the reception areas in the hotels I had visited.

A middle-aged dwarf woman in a nice, light-blue suit was standing behind the counter. She had her big, red hair tied up into a massive bun, she was wearing a professional layer of makeup, and had glasses with golden rims. She was writing something on a big, bulky book that had black leather covers, using a small, white quill.

“Elena!” King Gregor greeted her with a cheerful laugh, and her face lit up into a smile.

“Who is that stranger stomping into my house?” she asked. “Can’t say I recognize that face!”

“It hasn’t been that long!” King Gregor chuckled, stopping to a halt in front of her.

“Three months, Greg,” Elena said in a scolding manner, turning her attention to me and Chase. “And you two must be here for the emergency appointment?”

“Yes – This Chase and Dante – they are having a life and death situation,” King Gregor spoke quietly, his smile long gone.

“I see,” Elena said, her smile also vanishing. “Your room is ready and waiting for you, and we’ll start with the ritual in a few hours.”

“Ritual?” I repeated, feeling a bit nervous.

“Cleansing ritual,” Elena smiled soothingly. “We must be sure you are ready to meet the spirits, but we can go over the details after you’ve settled in.”

“What about payment?” Chase asked while pulling his wallet out of his bag, making me feel absolutely horrible – I never even thought about payment…

“Well, we are run by donations,” Elena said, gesturing towards a massive, hollow globe made of glass that was standing in a wide alcove on the left side of the reception. I hadn’t even noticed before; it was well hidden inside the alcove. It was otherwise completely see-through, but the areas representing the countries were opaque, matte white. The massive stand holding it was almost as tall as me, made of bright silver and carved into the shape of a leafless tree with massive roots looking like they were going through the floor.

Chase took his wallet and walked up to it, pushed a small stack of money through a small hole on the top of the globe before returning to us. I saw several fifty-dollar bills fluttering down on top of the big pile of previous donations.

“Thank you, sir, for your kindness,” Elena said with a respectful smile.

And I didn’t even have any change with me… I peered at Elena, who smiled at me just as brightly as she had smiled at Chase just now. I cleared my throat, feeling embarrassed because I didn’t have any money.

“You’d make a fortune if you charged for this,” I said quietly. “People would pay anything to come here.”

“That is true,” Elena nodded slowly, looking around the room, then laying her green eyes on me. “But we would be making that fortune by taking advantage of poor souls such as you, whose very lives could depend on the aid of our ancestors.”

“You are kind people,” I said, and her smile returned.

“Thank you. I really hope you will find the answers you are looking for. If not here, then somewhere else,” she said.

“Me too,” I sighed.

“Come – I’ll show you to your room,” she said, and told King Gregor to wait for her there.

We followed her out of the reception and through a hallway that seemed to be leading at the other end of the entire house. Apparently, there was a public restaurant and a spa in there as well, which explained the size of the building. There were only six rooms for guests though, all on the first floor.

Elena led us to one of them and opened the door for us.

I didn’t step in. Neither did Chase. We just stood there without even blinking, dumbfounded by what we saw.

The room was basically a five-star suite, but I barely noticed it. There was a bed in the middle of the opposite wall. Except it wasn’t a wall, but a window. The entire wall was the window and I could see the whole mountain range outside.

“Whoa…” Chase breathed out, putting my thoughts into one word.

“I take it that you like it?” Elena asked.

“Definitely,” I muttered, stepping inside to take a look around.

“Great! Here’s your key.”

The window had several long, heavy, dark-turquoise curtains as its frames, and the carpets and sheets were the same color. On the right, I saw a glimpse of a luxurious bathroom – also turquoise – through the open door, and on the left was a small kitchen area with a massive table and chairs. On top of the table, there was a big bouquet of exotic flowers I had never seen, their colors fitting the room perfectly, and there were several of those small trees everywhere else in the room.

I turned my attention back to the view, realizing we really were at the back of the house, in that part that was standing on top of the platform. There was nothing but thin air – loads and loads of thin air – under our room.

“I’ll let you settle in and come back in an hour, is that all right?” Elena asked and we both just nodded. “Great! There are snacks in the fridge in case you are hungry, and some clean towels in the bathroom.”

“Okay. Thank you so much for this opportunity,” Chase told her, taking her hand in his. “This means so much to us.”

“I know,” she said quietly, placing her free hand on top of his. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll be back later.”

We told her goodbye and watched her leave the room and close the door. Then, Chase turned to look at me.

“This room is gorgeous,” he said, walking to the table to smell the flowers.

I, on the other hand, went to take a better look at the weird trees the dwarfs seemed to love so much. “What are these?” I asked, touching the leaves. It had a white trunk that was crooked in several different ways, but I had seen some that were completely straight.

“Nchantnel – spirit trees. It’s an old dwarven belief that when the spirit leaves the body, it will be reborn as nchantnel.”

“They’re not from this world, are they?”

“They actually are, but you don’t see them that often outside dwarven lands,” he explained while walking to me. “These are sacred trees so they’re not giving them to outsiders.”

“I see,” I said, pulling my hand away so I wouldn’t accidentally damage it. Then, I turned to look out of the window again. “That view is just…”

“I know right? I’ll never get tired of looking at it,” he agreed.

For some reason, I felt calm. Having this new lead gave me hope and peace of mind. There were magical civilizations living inside mountains and trees that used to be spirits, not to mention entire worlds connected to ours with portals… There was a cure for me, right? There had to be, we just needed to find it.

“Do you need to lay down?”

I turned to look at Chase, who was walking to Eru. “I’m actually not that tired,” I said, realizing it at that moment.

“Hungry?” he asked, letting Eru out of her container. She immediately started checking the room with a suspicious look on her face.

Now I sure was hungry. We raided the fridge and Chase assured me that it was fine if I ate everything. There were croissants filled with ham, cheese and salad, some kind of salty cupcakes, and curd with fresh fruits. I made sure Chase ate too, before wolfing down the rest of it.

Soon after that, Elena returned and seemed pleased that the food was gone, telling us that it was a great compliment for them. Then, she asked if this was a good time to talk about the ritual, to which we nodded. She sat down at the table with us and gave us both a bright smile.

“I’m sure you both have heard a lot about what we do here, but let me walk you through the whole process,” she began, turning to look at me. “First, I need to know if you want to go there alone, or with a companion?”

“I…uh…?” I stammered, looking at Chase.

“Do you want me to come with you when you meet the spirits in your dream?” Chase translated.

“Yes – of course,” I said, relaxing again.

“A wise decision,” Elena nodded. “So you are both going through the cleansing ritual, which is simple with only three parts. The first two parts focus on cleansing your bodies – we’ll start with the first part today and continue to the second part tomorrow morning – and the last part focuses on cleansing your minds.”

“And… how are we doing that?” I asked timidly.

“It’s basically a bath, food, and meditation,” Elena listed and chuckled. “Once all three steps are completed, I’ll take you to the statues, and if they give you their approval, you will be given a special tea that will help you to fall asleep and give you protection against the possible horrors from your past.”

“W-What?” I stammered. I had plenty of those.

“Dante has been through a lot,” Chase said, placing his hand on mine.

“And that was what I wanted to talk about next,” she said, her expression turning serious. “In the dream, you may have to encounter some of the most difficult moments of your life, but I want you to understand that the spirits will not do that without a reason. They are old. They have seen a lot and visited thousands of people so their knowledge may just be the key to find the answers you need. If they do find something, they will walk you through the memories that are relevant to your case, no matter what those memories are.”

I nodded, starting to feel nauseated again. I knew exactly what kind of memories I’d be forced to go through.

“The good news is that this ritual you are about to start is giving you the protection you’ll need,” Elena continued. “It depends on the person, of course, but this is a powerful ritual, and it doesn’t fail that often. Every part of it will strengthen your body and your mind, and having a companion with you, a person who you trust, is the most powerful protection of them all.”

“And what if I still can’t do it?” I asked.

“You can walk away at any point while in the dream. The spirits will leave, and you will fall back to normal sleep,” Elena said.

“We have nothing to lose, Dante,” Chase said quietly, leaning closer to me. “If it’s too much, we’ll just leave.”

He was right, so I nodded. “I understand. I’m ready to try.”

“All right,” she smiled. “There is still plenty of time to change your mind, but let’s start with the first part of the ritual, shall we?”

*****

I found out that the spa wasn’t in the house like I first thought. It was under it, inside the mountain.

Elena showed us the way and told us more about the healing properties of this ritualistic bath. After a short journey down the stairs and through a well-lit hallway, we reached a small chamber where the ceiling and the walls were merged into an oval dome. There was only one desk at the back, nothing more, except for dozens of candles on the walls. There were two tunnels on both sides of the desk, and I assumed they were leading to the spa.

“This way,” Elena said, but she wasn’t heading towards the tunnels, but to a door that was on our right.

She opened it, revealing a small room that had two open archways on each side, and there, she stopped and turned to look at us.

“This is as far as I’ll go,” she said. “You can use either one of these changing rooms. Leave all your clothes in there and take a shower before going into the bath. Both changing rooms have their own, separated pools if you wish to have privacy. The recommended time in the bath is one to two hours, but sometimes it’s good to stay even longer than that. You’ll know when you’ve had enough.”

“How?”

“The minerals and herbs in the water will start to irritate your senses after a while, but not to worry! It’s not dangerous if you stay for too long, and there’s a bottle of lotion you can take with you and use afterward – some people may suffer from irritated skin, you see.”

Both Chase and I nodded, and she told us where to find clean towels and asked if we needed anything else. We didn’t, so she told us to come back to the reception once we were done.

After that, she left, and I turned to look at Chase. “So… should we use the same bath?”

He smiled at me and took my hand in his, pulling me with him towards the changing room on our left.

I tried not to look at Chase after we got undressed. I really did, but it was like he was trying to make me see him. He was always there when I turned my head or opened my eyes… And knowing him, I was pretty sure I was right.

“You’ve gained a lot of weight again,” he said while we were taking a shower – on the opposite ends of the room.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah – you’re starting to look like you used to.”

I sneaked a peek at him, but since he was watching me, he noticed it. “Stop ogling me,” I chuckled.

“If you say so,” he grinned and turned his back on me, continuing to wash his hair. My eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, before I forced myself to look away.

A little bit later, we stepped out of the shower, and I immediately understood that I wasn’t going to stop being amazed by this place. We found ourselves in a small cave, the ceiling of it just high enough for me to stand straight. It looked damn near natural, but the rocks protruding out of the walls didn’t have sharp corners, and the floor was smooth. And in the middle of it was the pool, dug into the solid stone. It was big enough for maybe five people.

The entire place was illuminated by some kind of stone orbs. There were several of them in different sizes, biggest being around the size of my head, and the smallest just a tiny rock. They were placed in clusters all around the floor and walls, and as I watched, they slowly changed colors from white to blue and green. On top of that, there were massive vines growing everywhere, even around the edges of the pool.

“Can we just move here?” I asked. “And what kind of plants live in the darkness?”

“Blindvine,” Chase chuckled, leading me towards the pool that was radiating light. As I peered in, I realized that there were more of those orbs at the bottom of it, making it look like the water itself was pure light.

The pool wasn’t perfectly round, and with the vine growing everywhere, it looked more like a pond. The water was nice and warm when we stepped in and sat down next to each other. It smelled really nice… Almost like the garden in Chase’s backyard. I could see small bits of herbs flowing around us, and when I put my feet down on top of the orbs, I could’ve sworn I could feel sand against my skin but couldn’t see any. When I swiped it with my hand and brought it closer to take a better look, I realized that they were tiny crystals – most likely the minerals Elena mentioned.

I could feel Chase’s eyes on me, so I turned to look at him. He was smiling at me and moved a bit closer when our eyes met.

“I think I can make a bath like this at home,” he said, taking a look at the crystals in my hand.

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

He spent a long time telling me about the herbs and the minerals and the places he could get them from, and I listened in silence, just watching him and the excitement in his eyes. I really wanted to see all those places he mentioned. He even knew where to buy the radiating orbs that would never fade.

“There’s this small shop in Njizrski – there are so many cool things in there. Once you’re strong enough, I’ll take you there,” he spoke.

“I’d love to see Njizrski. Other than the red desert,” I told him, and he stopped to stare at me with a gentle smile on his lips. “What?”

“It makes me happy that you like our world,” he said quietly.

“You kidding me? This is awesome,” I said, gesturing at the cave.

He moved a little bit closer again. “I was worried that you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it, considering what happened last time.”

“Honestly? I’m really mad at my old self right now,” I sighed. “I missed out on so much…”

His lips were suddenly on mine, and I forgot what I was about to say. I forgot everything else when he leaned against my chest, deepening the kiss. With one arm around his waist, I placed my hand on his cheek, brushing his skin with my thumb while his hands found their way up on my neck. It was so easy to let my hand travel down on his back until it found the perfect place to rest on his butt…

It took a long while before we broke the kiss. He sat back down next to me but rested his head on my shoulder. We stayed there for another long moment, just enjoying the company and the warm water, but the mood was clearly still there. I realized it when Chase touched my chest lightly, caressing my skin for a moment, and I immediately wanted more.

I took that hand in mine and kissed his palm, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t satisfied until his lips were back on mine. He chuckled when I pulled him back into the kiss we broke earlier. He parted his lips for me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, and I was suddenly firing up. I wasn’t sure if it was the water or the fact that I was getting better, but… I just… his body against mine…

And before I knew it, he had moved to sit on my lap… The kiss continued, slowly building up the heat between us as we became hungrier… greedier… His hands were everywhere, but so was mine as I tried to touch every inch of his body, and his lips never left mine.

We both knew where this night was taking us.

Suddenly, he placed his hands on my shoulder, pushing me away. He was breathing heavily and just stared at me for a moment, before glancing at the clock.

“Been here long enough?” he asked.

“Yup,” I said, sending us both racing out of the bath to take a quick shower – cold shower – and get dressed.

We were in such a hurry that we nearly forgot the lotion, so I had to go back to get it before we made our hasty way back up to the reception. It was just like back when we were in college… Running through the hallways, trying to keep our hands to ourselves, failing miserably…

Soon we reached the reception, and Elena smiled when she saw us approaching her.

“Are we feeling refreshed now?” she asked.

“Definitely,” Chase said before I could open my mouth. “But we’d like to call it a day now. Dante is very tired.”

She was completely immobile for a moment, her eyes jumping from him to me and then back to him. “Right,” she then said slowly. It was obvious I was not tired. “Let me show you back to your room then.”

“It’s fine – we have the key and know our way back,” Chase said with a smile.

Again, she looked at me, and then at him. “I see. Well, before you go – we have restocked the fridge in case you’re still hungry, and if it’s all right, I’ll come to get you tomorrow around noon?”

“Sure thing,” Chase said starting to walk towards the hallway that led to our room. “Goodnight!”

“Goodnight,” she replied with a knowing look on her face.

We got back to our room in record time, and once we were in, and the door behind us locked, I pulled Chase into my arms, continuing where we left off. We made our way towards the bed… kissing… undressing each other… abandoning our clothes where they fell… eventually falling onto the bed because we didn’t bother watching where we were going…

He was partially pinned under me, and he let out a light chuckle when I moved my lips down to kiss his throat, making sure I didn’t miss his favorite spots. His laugh turned into heavy, pleased breathing when I moved my hand between his legs and started working my magic on his ass while still kissing his neck. I was glad to know I still remembered how to make him crazy. Just seeing him squirm made me harder for him…

“Dante…” he breathed out when I let one of my fingers in him. The way he whispered my name nearly drove me crazy. I loved my name on his lips… “I’ve been waiting too long for this…” he murmured, his nails almost digging into my skin when he suddenly forced me off him.

In seconds, it was I who was laying on his back on the bed, and he climbed on top of me. I pushed myself to sit up so I could kiss him again, while he moved slowly on top of me, his every move making me harder and harder for him. It didn’t take long for me to be ready, and when he noticed it, he pushed me back down.

“You just relax,” he purred with a smile, his both hands caressing my chest. “I’ll take good care of you… bag!”

He snapped his fingers, and his bag literally jumped on the bed and as I stared at it, he started digging through it… for lube and a condom, as it turned out.

“You came prepared,” I chuckled, eyeing at the condom. “You remembered my size?”

“With you, I’m always prepared,” he smiled and pushed the bag away. “And your size is… rememberable,” he winked.

“Is that so?” I chuckled, placing my hands on his thighs.

He just smiled at me while putting the condom on me before opening the tube. The clear liquid was cold, but it wasn’t nearly enough to even start cooling me down. I watched him closely as he stroked me for a short moment, making sure my cock was covered in lube, before guiding it between his legs.

We both breathed out in pleasure as he let me in… Slowly, he started moving on my lap, taking me in deeper every time he lowered his body. I had a tight hold of his hips and he supported himself against my chest as he started riding me.

I had forgotten how amazing sex was with him… We fit together perfectly. His movements felt so goddamn good, and for a moment, I did what he wanted and just enjoyed the ride, watching him enjoy it as well. I loved the way his eyes fluttered shut every now and then, and those little moans that escaped his lips…

I couldn’t keep my hands off him for too long. I caressed his thighs, his stomach and chest, even reached out to touch his cheek, but he took that hand in his and kissed my fingers and palm, then leaned in to press his lips on mine. It was a tender kiss, full of warmth that I had desperately needed for months.

Too soon, he broke the kiss and pushed himself back up, giving me a flirty smile. I forgot to miss the kiss when he continued moving, but faster this time. My hold on his hips grew stronger when he tossed his head back, stroking himself slowly. It was so hot to watch… So hot that I could feel the ultimate pleasure building up inside me, and I assumed it was happening to him as well since his breathing grew faster and the sounds he made became louder.

It hit me first, but he wasn’t that far behind as he drove us both over the edge, leaving my body shivering in the aftermath. He had a tired but pleased smile on his face when he leaned in to kiss me slowly. His sweaty body was trembling lightly when I wrapped my arms around him.

He then lay down next to me, taking in a few, deep breaths while caressing my chest.

“I’ve missed this,” he whispered.

I looked back at that shivering pile of skin and bones in the corner of that one cell I wanted to forget, where physical contact meant pain… I had definitely missed moments like the one Chase and I were sharing now… I took his hand in mine and kissed his fingers.

“I’ve missed this too,” I murmured, suddenly feeling all kinds of emotions inside me when I turned to look at him, and he smiled at me.

And then he kissed me again, relieving some of the pain I still carried inside me.